Construction program's approval encounters snag; senators say they didn't get data in time

BATON ROUGE -- The annual program that finances port, flood control, aviation, highway and bridge construction and repair projects was left on hold Monday when a quorum of a Senate committee failed to show up to vote on the programs.

The House and Senate Committees on Transportation, Highways and Public Works usually meet jointly in the early stages of the legislative session to approve financing for the programs.

More than enough House members were present, but the Senate failed to get a quorum with no more than three senators ever present. The committee met at 11 a.m., an hour before the session began, and was allotted five minutes to approve each of the priority spending programs in order to adjourn in time to open the annual session.

Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, chairman of the Senate panel, said senators did not get the data they were being asked to vote on until late Friday or in some cases Monday before the meeting.

"This should not be a perfunctory approval," said McPherson, who did not attend the meeting. "This won't delay a project; it won't hurt a project."

He said that although the House has approved the various pools of money, representatives may have to meet again with the Senate committee to vote again on the projects.

Rep. Nita Hutter, R-Chalmette, chairwoman of the House transportation panel, said that as far as she is concerned, "we did what we were supposed to do." The only way the panel should have to meet on the projects again is if the Senate makes any changes in what the House has approved, she said.

Department of Transportation and Development Secretary William Ankner took the blame for not getting the information to the Senate on time. "I screwed up; it was my fault," he said.

McPherson said he and Ankner have talked about changing the approval process to give lawmakers more time and latitude in approving or rejecting projects in the priority programs and how the money is being spent.

"I guess we are here to vote or die," said Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, a member of the House panel who also complained that the committee had only 20 minutes to approve hundreds of millions of dollars in projects.

Hutter said that because many members had already discussed the projects at earlier meetings, no questions should have to be asked.

"If we can't ask questions, why didn't we just mail our ballots in?" Jones said. "Some of this stuff we just are being fed to us like out of a fire hydrant."

The amount of money set aside for the highway spending program was increased by about $98 million, with the addition of federal highway emergency money for repairs from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Transportation officials said that brought the highway priority budget to a little more than $850 million.

Earlier, the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget approved $133 million in federal stimulus money to be authorized for road and bridge projects in the state.

Another $297 million in stimulus spending for highway and bridge projects was approved in early March, but Senate President Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, had asked the joint budget panel to hold up approval of the rest.

Chaisson said at that time that he wanted to see how much Gov. Bobby Jindal set aside from state surplus dollars for road projects before approving all of the federal stimulus money.

Jindal has since earmarked more than $245 million in state surplus for highway and bridge construction or repaving.

Without debate Monday, the budget committee approved using the stimulus money for these projects:

-- $72 million for widening of Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge.

-- $34 million for work on I-49 South from U.S. 90 to the Louisiana 85 interchange in Iberia Parish.

-- $24 million for improvements to I-210 along the Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles.

-- $3 million for improvements to Louisiana 28 in Rapides Parish.

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Ed Anderson can be reached at eanderson@timespicayune.com or 225.342.5810.